straight up rhapping it, and by "it" well... let's just say... heh..

Athenian Rhapsody is a fun experience that feels familiar but does stand on its own two feet. The battle system is definitely borrowed from Undertale but is a bit more colourful and boisterous. Going the pacifist route means the battle system is a series of mini-games where the character needs to avoid projectiles that get more ridiculous the further you get into the game.

Much of the enjoyment comes from the interactions between the player character and twelve friends that can be found throughout the world. The humour is cute and well written, though sometimes the toilet jokes come a little too often. Each friend has a neat back story and unique personality that leads to some fun hijinks.

At the end of the day, there’s no way to avoid bringing up Undertale with all the similarities between the two. If you’ve never played the former, than the comparison is pointless since Athenian Rhapsody works on its own. It’s not really a question of either or, if you’re a fan of that style of RPG, them you already know that you’ll likely enjoy Athenian Rhapsody.

Another quirky indie RPG. Distinguishes itself from its clearest inspiration by having a cast of characters who are mostly unpleasant freaks, who do not necessarily develop out of being unpleasant freaks, that you are nevertheless expected to befriend and come to care about. Works far better than the demo led me to believe, though there are a few misses (Especially evident with Horatio, who I was clearly meant to have more fondness for than I feel like was reasonable given his actions). Some party members also feel extremely underbaked, on account of the fact that they largely cease to be characters once they join you. Not inherently a huge deal, but some of them (Girlcat especially) hardly have any time before they're put into your party and get relegated to dry commentary on the overworld and mid-cutscene interjections that everyone else ignores. Some stuff near the end of the game also seems to act like your party members have any form of dynamic between each other when they absolutely don't- and, look, I can hardly expect this short indie rpg to pull off a proper dynamic between a party of 13, but you can't just pretend like you established something that you never even tried establishing in the first place.

Moving away from characters and to moment-to-moment writing, it's also pretty inconsistent. As stated before, dialogue can often feel dry and stunted, and the more down-to-earth a character's personality is, the more trouble Nico seems to have conveying it. Humor-wise, the brand of absurdist comedy on display can be genuinely hilarious, but it falls flat pretty often. At the very least, few gags are dragged out long enough to enter groan-worthy territory.

Gameplay and presentation are both very solid. Spritework is a little amateurish but ultimately looks perfectly fine. Character designs are fun and varied. Bullet hell remains engaging throughout in spite of asset re-use. Soundtrack is banging. Not much more to say.

Overall, A well-rounded and unique experience that deserves at least a little more than to be chucked into the ever-growing pile of wannabe undertales.